The Gods of Egypt

The Gods of Egypt, first published in France in 1992 and now in its third French edition, is a short, elegant, and highly accessible survey of ancient Egyptian religion. The clarity and brevity of Claude Traunecker’s book make it especially valuable to readers seeking an authoritative introduction to this complex topic. The Cornell edition, the first English translation, is enhanced by 23 illustrations. Traunecker begins with an overview of the source materials and a discussion of the historiography of Egyptian religion, a subject relatively neglected by scholars. He then describes the actual and metaphysical worlds inhabited by the Egyptian deities and the role that humans played in the Egyptian universe. Focusing especially on the diversity and number of approaches used by Egyptians to explain their world, The Gods of Egypt offers a succinct and highly readable presentation of recent interpretations of Egyptian religion.

Claude Traunecker, one of the world’s foremost authorities on ancient Egyptian religion, is director of the Institut d’Egyptologie at the University of Strasbourg. He is the author of Coptos: Hommes et dieux sur le parvis de Geb and coauthor of Karnak: Rèsurrection d’un site and Le Caire. David Lorton, an Egyptologist, has translated other Cornell books, including The Twilight of Ancient Egypt: First Millennium B.C.E. by Karol Mysliwiec and The Search for God in Ancient Egypt by Jan Assmann.